A Very Merry Christmas
by Fairylust
Summary: Gathering around to celebrate Christmas a group of pokemon look back and reflect on their previous Christmas together to explain the meaning of the holiday to a young Cubchoo and his Golett friend.


**So, this is my Chistmas fic for today. It's rated T just to be safe and I hope you all enjoy it. Have a merry Christmas everyone!**

* * *

**A Very Merry Christmas**

"YES! IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

"GAH! ZORUA?! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU-"

_Thud._

"What's all the noise?" a weary voice yawned. Sitting up from where she'd been laying down a sleepy eyed Herdier stared at the young Zorua who had apparently just frightened their poor Dewott friend awake. Panpour sat aside smiling with his eyes closed, as they usually were, meanwhile Dewott loudly scolded Zorua for awaking him so rudely. Sighing, Herdier supposed that meant the others were awake. She got up and looked around. The bed her trainer, Felicity, had previously occupied was now empty. Herdier supposed that meant she was downstairs with her family, as well as the other two missing pokemon who had shared the room with them for the night.

She quickly padded from the room, followed silently by Panpour who was grinning as he followed after. "It seems that today is going to be rather exciting, don't you think?" he said, grinning slyly the entire time.

"Of course," Herdier agreed with a nod of her head, "it's Christmas morning. This is perhaps one of the most favored holidays to both humans and pokemon." They headed downstairs where Herdier watched Panpour run over to Felicity's eight-year-old brother, Luke, who laughed and hugged Panpour warmly. He was just two years away from attaining his own starter, having already decided on choosing a Tepig just like his big brother, Rex.

"Get enough sleep?"

Turning Herdier smiled at seeing who had addressed her. Leafeon padded up to her with impish delight shining in his eyes. He was one of Rex's pokemon, having been with him for over five years, ever since Rex was twelve years old. Beside him Glaceon followed closely with an eager smile crossing her face. She was always eager on holidays.

"Yes," Herdier replied with a gentle, "I slept very well thank you."

"Good." Leafeon said. His brown eyes shone relief. "Rex and I worried that maybe you guys would be too used to the outdoors. Anyway, I suggest you and the others get breakfast while you can. Liepard is in there eyeing the chow that's already set out."

"Right. Thanks."

Herdier padded into the kitchen where she found Liepard already eating some of the pokefood that was put out. Next to her eating from a different bowl sat Cubchoo and next to Cubchoo was Golett. Herdier smiled, glad to see Rex's Golett was there alongside Cubchoo, otherwise she felt Liepard might try to steal some of the poor ice-type's food. Herdier didn't understand why but Liepard seemed to be quite wary of the young Golett.

It was then that Luke came in with Panpour on his shoulder, followed by Zorua and Dewott. Felicity came in a few minutes later with her short, blue hair damp and her expression less than pleased. She sighed in frustration as she plopped down in a chair at the table. "Rex," she huffed, "how many times do I have to tell you to keep your creepy bug pokemon out of my bathroom?"

Rex was instantly perplexed. "What're you talking about?" He asked, while he kept cooking the pancakes that would be his and his siblings' breakfast for the day. "Ever since last year I haven't let any of my bug-types in or near your bathroom. My poor Leavanny still has nightmares about what happened when it was just a helpless little Sewaddle!"

"Yeah," Luke agreed with a small frown, "and you clubbed Joltik a good one, and now because of that Galvantula won't come inside whenever you come over to visit."

"Nor will " Rex sighed. He turned to Felicity with a serious, yet soft hearted look in his bright blue eyes, "I think you should apologize and bury the hatchet with them. They aren't that bad. Leavanny is a real sweetheart and Galvantula is actually very gentle and timid, despite her mean appearance."

"Okay, okay. I'll try, but I refuse to do it without Dewott and Purrloin by my side."

"You really trust them, don't you?" Luke said.

"Of course! They're my friends."

"Rule number one," Rex said in a wise fashion though he wore a playful smile, "Luke, you have to establish trust between you and your pokemon otherwise teamwork will be just about impossible to attain."

Herdier agreed. It made sense and given the fact that they depended on each other. So as the three siblings continued to chat the pokemon all ate breakfast and afterwards got to talking. Herdier tried to catch up with Leafeon and Glaceon. The last time she'd seen Glaceon she was a little Eevee, but then again the last time she'd seen Golett it had just been an egg. Many of Rex's pokemon had evolved since Herdier had last seen them, such as his Emboar, who was a Pignite last she'd seen him.

The first time they had met Herdier was just a small, newly hatched Lillipup and Emboar was merely a Tepig having just been chosen by a ten year old Rex. He journyed to become a famous breeder and coordinator, which he succeeded in until Felicity turned ten and he retired to look after Luke, who was just six years old at the time. Nobody else was around to take care of him.

Their parents worked in a city far from the humble town where the three siblings lived and their aunt was a scientist who needed to go research pokemon in another region. So Rex took it upon himself, even though he was just fifthteen at the time, to look after Luke while Felicity started her journey as a trainer. Everything had worked out, for the most part. Rex still bred pokemon, bug pokemon mostly; although he rarely competed in contests anymore he still kept all his pokemon in tip-top shapre.

Herdier was about to inquire to Emboar about how things were when Cubchoo and Golett stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Then out of nowhere the younger of the pair inquired, "What's Christmas exactly?"

Cubchoo appeared curious as the others turned to look at him and Golett, who stood silent as usual beside his ice bear friend. The little Cubchoo had hatched recently the previous April, so it was his first Christmas among their family. "Do you remember what your last Christmas was like?" his dark eyes were turned to Herdier who chuckled at the question.

How could she ever forget, especially when there were reminders around her everyday?

"Of course I remember," Herdier said with a smile, "Cubchoo, Golett, and anyone else who wants to listen sit and stay quiet while I tell this story. Okay? Okay. Here's how it happened..."

* * *

**Last Year...**

"WAKE UP! GET YOUR BUTTS UP!"

"Why?" Lillipup groaned. She was so close to evolving and hated being awakened from her dreams so early in the morning. She saw that wasn't even light out yet through the window in Felicity's room. "Why do I need to do anything?"

"Get up!" Eevee exclaimed. "It's Christmas!" She nudged Lillipup relentlessly, eager to get her up and moving. "C'mon!"

"No. Go away. Oshawatt? Oshawatt, make Eevee go away."

Oshawatt gave an annoyed moan, turning over in his sleep. Huffing Eevee then leapt on top of him, surprising him and causing him to suddenly jump. _Thud._ Giggling Eevee hurried them to head downstairs. Lillipup finally got up and done as she was rushed to do. She noticed Panpour was entertaining seven-year-old Luke alongside Leafeon who was wagging his tail while the human boy patted his head affectionately. Sighing Lillipup went into the kitchen along with Oshawatt and Eevee

As they finished eating there was a loud scream from upstairs. "Rex!" Felicity screeched. "Rex! Rex! REX!"

The sixteen year old boy ran from the kitchen then, giving a loud shout as he tripped over Purrloin, who'd been going into the kitchen. Purrloin gave a loud cry of surprise and fear, whilst Rex fell face flat to the ground. He scrambled to his feet ignoring Luke who stood with his hands to his mouth in shock, calling over to ask if his brother was okay while Panpour stood silent and Leafeon sweatdropped at his trainer's clumsiness. Rex assured Luke he was okay, and then made a mad dash upstairs to aid his screaming sister. Lillipup and Oshawatt followed, figuring that whatever was wrong they'd need to be there for their trainer.

They made it to the bathroom where they found Felicity standing wrapped in a white towl and screaming at Rex who appeared rather embarassed, as well as somewhat terrified. He held a frightened Sewaddle in his arms, staring down at Felicity who continued to yell at him. "You know I hate bug pokemon! Can't you please keep that freaky thing out of here? Seriously, Rex, your pokemon scared the freakin daylights out of me!"

"S-sorry, sis. Wait, where's-" Rex then gasped rushing over to the bathtub where he scooped a swirly eyed, soaking wet Joltik from the tub. Giving a cry of horror he looked over to Felicity with wide eyes. "How could you do this to poor Joltik?"

"With this." she replied dryly, holding up a rolled up newspaper that had previously been set by the sink. "That should teach them a lesson!"

"Their just babies, Felicity!" Rex said, defending the two young pokemon. "You didn't have to bash them with that awful thing! What if I just booted Oshwatt or Panpour out the front door? I don't really like water types all that much, but you don't see me hurting them!"

"Hey, water types are cool! Bug types are just freaky!"

Sighing Rex shook his head and carried his two injured, freaked out pokemon from the room. Lillipup shook her head at their arguing, meanwhile Oshawatt sweatdropped from the awkwardness of the moment.

After that things settled down and Rex put out pokefood and made breakfast in the form of waffles. Felicity apologized to Rex for what happened and he assured her that it wouldn't happen again. "If it did," he joked, "I think I may be put out of business." Luke and Felicity laughed at that, as well as Rex and even Sewaddle and Joltik offered some nervous laughter.

"So," Rex smiled with a soft tone, "how about we all go and open presents now? I think I heard Sawsbuck on the roof last night."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Felicity laughed. "Santa was here, blah, blah, blah. Let's just get this over with so we can really have some fun."

"You're fairly eager today, aren't you?"

"Why not? It's Christmas, isn't it?"

They sat around the living room and Rex started to pass out gifts. Lillipup watched with delight as Felicity opened one gift that contained a fancy baby blue collar, which was meant for her. She wagged her tail as her trainer put it around her neck and chooed at how cute she looked wearing it. Panpour, Purrloin, and Oshawatt weren't so lucky.

They all received little Christmas sweaters and Purrloin was the only one of them that actually looked good in his, which was probably because scarlet red looked good on him seeing as the color matched with the colors of his fur. "Aren't they just precious?" Felicity giggled lovingly. Luke and Rex laughed both laughed at the three males, as did Pignite and some of the others present save for Leafeon and Eevee who also received sweaters as gifts and sat sulking with their ears laid back and heads bowed low with sweatdrops forming at the side of their foreheads. Eevee was the only female to get a sweater, yet it didn't look that great on her. That shade of green just wasn't her color and orange certainly was not Leafeon's color.

Lillipup laughed and assured them that things would probably get better as the day progressed. They believed her for the most part, until they receieved matching hats and mittens. Panpour was the only one spared a hat and instead got matching pale blue earmuffs to match with his dark blue mittens, sadly neither matched with the silver sweater he wore. Purrloin actually looked a lot like a pokeSanta by the time he was fully adorned.

Rex and Felicity fought tooth and nail to get the others into their outfits. It was Oshawatt and Leafeon who put up the most fight out of them all. By the time things were over Felicity had new clothes, jelwery, a stuffed teddiursa bear, and some new pokeballs. Luke mostly got toys, but his favorite gift seemed to be the snowsled, which Lillipup was told by Sewaddle and Pignite that Rex had spent many hours making over the past few months. He certainly did a good job. It was a bit confusing as to why he would give Santa credit for his hard work but Lillipup wasn't about to question it.

Rex received clothes, books, CDs, fresh fruit, and numerous other gifts that seemed to please him. Pignite pridefully took credit for slipping more than a few of those gifts under the tree, meanwhile Sewaddle, Leafeon, and Eevee argued that they'd helped out as well. "Hey, guys," Lillipup offered, "it doesn't matter who gave who what, as long as their happy, right?"

"Wrong!" Eevee snapped.

"We did most of the work!" Leafeon spat at Pignite who snorted. "I did most of the heavy lifting, moving, and running!" Pignite argued. "You three just picked and chose what and what not to get. That's not real work!"

"That's not important!" Lillipup barked.

"Yeah." Oshawatt agreed, moving to stand beside Lillipup and act as a neutral party. "As long as it wasn't something as stupid as this," he motioned to his outfit, "I'd think it wouldn't matter who did what."

"I-" Sewaddle started, only to be interuppted when Felicity clapped her hands together loudly to get everyone's attention. It worked, needless to say. Rex then annouced, "Anyone who wants to go outside with us is more than welcomed, but if you'd rather stay inside then that's fine too. You'll all just have to come back outside when we take a group photo."

So everyone scattered. Luke, Felicity, and Rex got dressed and headed outside followed by Lillipup, Oshawatt, Pignite, Eevee, Leafeon, Joltik, Sewaddle, Panpour, and Purrloin. The three kids started to play around in the snow immediantly. Rex told the pokemon that they could expolore as long as they didn't go too far.

Almost immediantly chaos insued. Being playful Purrloin rolled a snowball and tossed it, hitting Pignite headon. Being the hothead that he was Pignite blew an ember attack towards Purrloin, who dodged and instead the attack headed straight for Sewaddle. Luckily, Leafeon shoved her out of the way just in time. The attack left melted snow in its wake and Purrloin merely grabbed more snow and threw it at Pignite again. "Ooh!" Pignite grunted, body literally steaming with rage as his body heated up against the cold air. "You're gonna get it!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Purrloin called, as he got down on all fours and made a mad dash away from Pignite. He began a hot pursuit for Purrloin who nimbly scampered up a frozen tree that was covered in snow.

Lillipup ignored them, digging around in the snow alongside Eevee searching for a red ball that had been left out before it was buried in the snow. Their efforts seemed fruitless and Eevee eventually gave up, plopping down in the snow beside Leafeon who sat watching Sewaddle as she and Joltik played a game of hide-and-seek with Panpour who was apparently winning.

"I love this snow!" Eevee said with a bright smile. "When I evolve I'm gonna be a Glaceon! Then I can have snow whenever I want!"

"Yeah," Leafeon chuckled as he patted her head. "Yeah, sure. Like that'll ever happen." Huffing Eevee gave him a playful shove, and then gasped pointing over to where Oshawatt shood with tears leaking from his eyes and his tongue frozen to an icecicle that hung from a broken branch that leaned against the slender trunk of a gray, snow covered tree. "He needs our help!" Eevee proclaimed.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, genius." Leafeon muttered rolling his eyes. Ignoring him Eevee padded over to where Oshawatt stood with his tongue still frozen and actually starting to burn. "C'mon, let's go!" She called upon realizing Leafeon wasn't following. Sighing he stood and resigned himself to helping Eevee rescuse Osawatt from his own dumb act.

Meanwhile Purrloin sat up on a high branch of the tree, smiling down at Pignite who looked ready to burn him alive. Laughing at having an advantage over the stronger pokemon Purrloin purposely pushed some snow from the branch watching as it fell and melted on Pignite who became even more livid. "Do that again and see what'll happen!" Pignite warned, drying instantly as his body temperature rose to unheard levels, so much so that the snow beneath his fee melted and the tree began to slowly dethaw.

Lillipup continued her dig for the ball, up until she found herself soaking wet from a water gun attack. Shivering and wet she shook herself to where she was somewhat dry, turning to glare at a smiling, yet embarrased looking Panpour.

"Lillipup, I'm sorry for doing that! I didn't mean to hit you. I was aiming for Joltik. She moved out of the way just in time though. I'm really sorry." he then took a second to think before offering, "Would you like to join in?"

"Well," she hesitated, then gave in with a smile she couldn't hold back, "yeah, okay. What are you guys playing?"

"It's not really a game." Panpour explained. "For the most part we're just throwing snowballs, or in my case, shots of water. To win you have to catch Joltik, but she's pretty fast."

"Then I guess we'll have to try really hard, won't we?"

"Hey!" Joltik suddenly called. They looked in the direction of the noise to see Joltik was on the side of a tree staring at them with her eight blue eyes. "Bet ya can't get me!" She exclaimed, vanishing from sight within a matter of seconds. The game was on as Lillipup and Panpour ran to try and get her.

"Please,Oshawatt," Leafeon sighed in frustration, "explain just what exactly you thought you were doing before you got yourself into this mess."

Oshawatt tried to explain but Eevee interuppted with a fit of giggles. "He sounds funny!" she exclaimed as his garbled words ceased, though tears continued to fall down his face and his tongue continued to burn. Leafeon looked closely and concluded that Pignite and Panpour would be needed to work together in order to free the water type's tongue. "Eevee, you stay here with Oshawatt." Leafeon commanded.

"I need to go get us some help."

"Okay, be back soon!" Eevee called as he walked away. She then turned back to Oshawatt. "Say more funny things! It'll pass time while Leafeon gets help."

Oshawatt groaned at hearing this, crying even harder.

Panpour and Lillipup raced around following Joltik as she leapt from one place to another, effectively evading them; however, their game came to an end when Joltik accidentally ran into Sewaddle who tackled her in a hug and accidentally knocked them into Lillipup and Panpour. The four friends tumbled into the snow, laughing and tossing snow at each other. It was around that time that Leafeon appeared, unable to avoid a snowball tossed by Panpour. It smacked him in the face knocking him back with a surprised yelp.

"Oh, sorry!" Panpour laughed.

Leafeon wiped the snow from his face and gave a small smile. He was prepared to address them on their situation, but having been caught off guard the idea left him for a moment. Lucky for him it returned as soon as it had left. Leafeon explained the situation as calmly and quickly as he could to the four who were immediantly ready to help poor Oshawatt.

"I think that-" Sewaddle began only to be interuppted.

"Now," Panpour said, "the real trick may be recruiting Pignite."

Purrloin smiled as Pignite fumed below. The threats persisted yet Purrloin didn't seem to listen. He climbed higer and higher still until he was so high up that Pignite looked like an ant. He jumped once on the sturdy branch that held him and he watched with some mirth as tons of snow fell onto the angry fire type below almost burying him, although it all melted within a matter of minutes due to how enraged Pignite already was, but that was when Pignite finally lost it.

With a single loud cry Pignite fired a massive burst of fire at Purrloin who was only joking, but was way more than just a tad surprised when he saw the massive orange and red wave-like burst of flame nearing him. The air heated up as it approached and Purrloiun got a feeling of dread as it did get closer and closer. The heat in the air was so intense that it reached all the way to where Oshawatt stood with Eevee. The air heated up just enough that he was able to free his tongue. Eevee cheered for him, but if she saw what was happening several yards off through a few trees that blocked her sight then she would not have cheered.

Crying out in a mix of horror and pain Purrloin felt a searing hot pain, and then the world tilted up and he was enveloped in a dark embrace.

Pignite stared in shock and horror at what he'd done. The heat of his body lowered and now he was just stunned. The tree was falling, burning, but falling all the same. It violently crashed into another tree that was still frozen solid, yet the frosty tree still caught flame. Then the second tree came down all the same as the first. The two trees landed in the snow with a loud, cracking _boom_. Snow was melted and the trees were broken. Worst of all Pignite didn't see Purrloin anywhere.

"Wha-" Sewaddle began to inquire.

"What happened?" Leafeon cried drowning Sewaddle's voice out.

"I-I don't know, b-but whatever it was..." Lillipup whimpered. Her voice trailed off as she imagined something terrible having happened, perhaps there was an attack or maybe an old tree fell into another. Alas, the heat in the crisp air told them otherwise and they dreaded what might have happened. The four friends looked at each other no more than two minutes before they dashed towards the scene of the incident.

"Eh, what was dat?" Oshawatt mumbled with a numb tongue.

"It was loud." Eevee muttered, and then rushing forwards she exclaimed, "Let's go check it out!"

Oshawatt and Eevee met the other four pokemon at the scene where Pignite stood trembling, staring at the burning trees with widened eyes. Alarm instantly took hold as they all ran to Pignite's side panicked. "Purrloin?" Panpour called looking around, frantically. Fear was cold and rising within his chest and stomach.

He recalled that Purrloin had been teasing Pignite earlier and now concern came over him as he stared at the burning trees and imagined what could have happened. "Purrloin!" he called to his friend.

"Where's Purrloin?" he asked Pignite who stood silent. Panpour went back to calling, "Purrloin!"

"Pignite," Lillipup whimpered, "what'd you do?"

"I-it was an accident." He mumbled. Suddenly he snapped to his senses looking to Panpour and Oshawatt with fear and panic shining in his amber eyes. "W-we got to put the fire out! Purrloin is trapped somewhere in there!"

Gasping, but wasting not a second Panpour let loose with a water gun. Oshawatt joined him but they were hardly making a difference. Lillipup realized this and barked to the others, "Quick throw snow on it that should kill it quicker!"

They all hastily began tossing and chunking as much snow as they could into the flames watching as the combined efforts slowly put the fire out. It helped a lot that it'd started to snow as well, a gentle north wind blowing towards them and aiding them in their efforts. Once it was out they began their search for Purrloin. Lillipup and Panpour were aided by Pignite as they looked for their feline friend. Sewaddle and Joltik searched together, whilst Leafeon and Eevee searched together using combined attacks to move snow and burnt branches out of their way.

Thankfully it wasn't long before Sewaddle and Joltik came across Purrloin seeing as they were smaller than the others, therefore were able to fit in and around tight spaces. The problem was that he was trapped beneath one of the two trees, was unconscious, yet thankfully was breathing through his mouth. "Joltik, go tell the others we've found Purrloin." Sewaddle said, hugging Purrloin's dark shivering form. "And tell them to hurry! I-" She cut herself off upon realizing that Joltik had already scurried off to tell their friends about their discovery.

"O-oh. Oh, oh no, what happened?"

They all turned then to see a new pair of pokemon, Scolipede and a shiny Audino, appear on the scene. It was strange to see them, considering that Scolipede was usually guarding his trainer's nursery and Audino was the one in charge of caring for the eggs there when Rex wasn't present. Lillipup quickly deduced that Scolipede must have sensed danger or something and came to investigate along with Audino who surely would be willing to help since she was so caring and besides that it was kinda obvious that she had a crush on Purrloin.

"Purrloin's been hurt!" Lillipup barked to them. "Please help us!"

Luckily the two sprang into action immediantly and Scolipede being there made a huge differece. He was able to lift and pull branches out of the way as well as an entire burnt tree trunk, which had weighed down heavy on Purrloin. Sewaddle was crouched down low, hugging him when their friends finally discovered them. Both were covered by ash and Purrloin appeared somewhat helpless, pitiful. It was heartbreaking.

Gathering around each and every pokemon took in his broken form, covered by ash and soot, fur singed and burnt. His green eyes closed tight against whatever pain he felt, and his mouth hung open inhaling and exhaling wheezily. Lillipup and Panpour moved to his side with tears leaking from their eyes.

"I-I think he's-" Leafeon then pulled Sewaddle away from Purrloin and sat with her to the side, promising her and Eevee that everything would be okay. They appeared doubtful, but took his word for it since he was one of Rex's senior pokemon.

"Purrloin! Purrloin, please don't die!" Lillipup sobbed. She turned to Audino with teary eyes. "Y-you can help him, right?"

"I-I can try." Audino replied with a trembling voice. "I'll do what I can. Scolipede, you can take us back to the nursery, right? I've more medicines there. He'll be better than okay if we can get there."

"I'll do what I can," Scolipede replied with a hard-to-read expression, "Audino, you, Purrloin, and some of the others can climb onto my back and I'll rush us there. The others will just have to keep up."

Audino gave a brief nod, as she and Panpour gingerly helped the wounded Purrloin onto Scolipede's back. He gave hisses of pain every once in a while but other than that there wasn't really much difficulty. After less than five minutes Audino, Purrloin, Lillipup, Pignite, Joltik, Eevee, Oshawatt, and Sewaddle were on Scolipede's back and he was running as quick as he could towards the nursery, leaving Leafeon and Panpour buried beneath a pile of snow that he kicked up. Grunting in frustration Leafeon and Panpour shook the snow off and ran after them barely able to see Scolipede due to how fast he was.

"So," Leafeon said as they ran, "why didn't you go for the ride?"

Panpour didn't reply, instead a loud cry and the sight of Sewaddle and Eevee flying through the sky turning head over tail through the air towards them was the response to the question. Leaping as high as they could they each grabbed one of the young pokemon. Leafeon held Eevee by her scruff, whilst Panpour hugged Sewaddle tight against his chest.

"Scolipede travels to fast for my liking." Panpour said with a sigh. He turned and shook his head in the direction Scolipede had vanished in. "If he hits a bump and someone isn't holding on tight enough they'll come flying through the air and are likely to get hurt." He then turned to Eevee and Sewaddle with a kind smile. "Are you two okay?"

"Yes, I-"

"Yeah," Eevee cried over Sewaddle's response, "now let's go!"

Chuckling at her enthusiasm Panpour lifted Sewaddle and let her sit atop his shoulders. He then started following after Leafeon and Eevee. It took thirty to forty minutes but they made it to the nursery in one piece. Scolipede laid outside beside the nursery watching for any intruders. The four pokemon gave him a wary eye until they were at the door and upon entering found the others waiting around in what looked like a waiting room. Taking a seat of their own they prepared for a long wait. Surprisingly, it wasn't even ten minutes later that Audino came to announce that Purrloin would be okay and make a full recovery.

It was a relief yet did little to soothe Pignite who stood up with tears in his eyes and a heavy heart on which words lay wishing to be let out and feeling wanting to be made known. "Everyone, please everyone, listen up." Pignite called waiting until everyone was staring at him before continuing. "I-I'm sorry that this has happened. I-I didn't mean to hurt anyone, just as I didn't mean to ruin anyone's Christmas. I've let you all down, as a teammate and as a friend. I am so...very...deeply sorry."

Tears dripped from his face and he shook all over expecting everyone to be angry with him. That was why he was so surprised when Lillipup stepped forward, stood on her hind legs, and then gave him an affectionate lick to his cheek. "You big dummy," she sighed, "you didn't ruin anything."

"Yeah," Oshawatt said, "you just lost your cool for a second. It happens. Don't be so down on yourself."

"It's still a good Christmas." Leafeon then said with a soft smile. Kindness reflected in his brown eyes.

"As long as we're all together." Panpour added.

"And as long as we're all safe." Joltik added to Panpour's comment, which added onto Leafeon's statement.

"That's right!" Eevee agreed. "That's right, Pignite!"

"We're all friends," said Lillipup, "and we're all going to go home friends, right? Everything will be okay."

Everyone agreed with Lillipup, coming close to give him a hug or at least tell him that he wasn't the only one at fault for what happened. Everyone knew how Purrloin sometimes took his jokes a little too far. A little while later they were all brought back to see Purrloin. He laid on an exaimining table in a room that had rows of selves, which held incubators and within those incubators were pokemon eggs.

Purrloin lay on the table awake. He was more than willing to forgive Pignite as long as Pignite forgave him and with how irresistably charming he made himself look it was almost impossible for anyone to not forgive him. Laughing and agreeing to enjoy the rest of their day together Audino suddenly rushed from one side of the room carrying a dark gray and red zig-zagged egg in her arms. She surprised them all when she urged them to follow her outside.

Snow fell gently outside the nursery and there was a soft, mystical breeze blowing about. Glowing eerily in Audino's arms the egg was clearly ready to hatch at any moment. Scolipede joined their huddled group as they watched, almost breathless and amazed as the egg gave one final glow and changed into a small, adorable, newly hatched Zorua.

Blue eyes beheld the group of pokemon warmly and a smile spread across his face. Instantly Zorua leapt at the closest pokemon and tackled them into the snow. "Mama!" he proclaimed as he licked and snuggled against Oshawatt who gave a loud cry of protest.

"No! No, this is not okay! Get off me! Somebody...anybody...HELP ME!"

Everyone burst out laughing at the sight, even Scolipede. Zorua laughed without even knowing why, continuing to shower Oshawatt with affection. "Merry Christmast, Oshawatt!" Audino said softly and then she laughed some more. It certainly wasn't the sort of gift Oshawatt was expecting, but it wasn't like he was cold or uncool enough to try and get rid of the baby Zorua after he had decided that Oshawatt was his guardian.

"Hey!" Lillipup suddenly exclaimed. "Do you think Rex and Felicity might be looking for us about now?"

"The group photo!" Pignite gasped, suddenly remembering what Rex had said before they went outside. "There's no way we'd get back there in enough time!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure." Panpour said giving a thoughtful glance to Scolipede, who was apparently thinking the same thing because Scolipede gave him a nod and smiled back.

Elsewhere, Felicity paced in front of Rex and Luke seeming quite worried due to the disappearance of their pokemon. "Where could they be?" She worried for her poor missing Oshawatt, and Lillipup, and Panpour, and even her Purrloin as impish as he could be at times. "You don't think anything bad could have happened to them, do you?"

"No way." Luke said. "They'll be here, just wait a little longer."

"Luke is right." Rex agreed. "I'm sure they'll show up soon, just give them a few more minutes."

Felicity sighed, still worried but unwilling to argue. It was then that a loud cry caught her, as well as her brothers' attention. It was then that they caught sight of Rex's Scolipede fast approaching with Audino, Lillipup, Pignite, Panpour, Purrloin, Leafeon, Eevee, Oshawatt, Sewaddle, Joltik, and a Zorua all riding on his back fearlessly. They stopped so fast that Scolipede accidentally slipped on a patch of ice and went flying. The three humans gave a cry as the pokemon all rained down on them.

_BOOM!_

Scolipede landed, creating a huge indention in the snow. He stood up seeming somewhat dizzy meanwhile Audino climbed to her feet and rushed about looking at everyone but mostly fretting over Purrloin who insisted that he was okay despite Audino's attempts to look him over. Oshawatt hugged Zorua who was quietly crying, shaken at the fall they had taken but was otherwise okay. Panpour and Lillipup helped free Pignite who'd gotten stuck upside down in the snow. Leafeon inspected Sewaddle for injuries, whilst Eevee pulled her head from the snow finding Joltik clinging to the top her head for dear life.

Felicity quickly rushed to her pokemon's aid, as did Rex and Luke went to what pokemon they couldn't make it to quickly to see if they were okay, which they all were. Scolipede was the only one really hurt, but he'd just received a few bruises, nothing that was too serious. Once this was established and everyone calmed down Rex took note of the new member to his sister's group, "It looks like you've got a Zorua on your team now, Felicity."

"Seriously?"

"That's right." Rex said pointing to Zorua who was at that time laughing and snuggling against Oshawatt. "Look. He's most likely imprinted Oshawatt as his guardian, or to be more specific, as his mother."

"Wow! That's amazing!"

"Yeah," Luke agreed, "it's really neat."

"Merry Christmas, Oshawatt!" Rex proclaimed pleasantly, patting the water type on his head. "You're now a mother!" He said with a friendly chuckle. "It's been a real fun Christmas for you, huh?"

Growling Oshawatt attempted to strike Rex with his shell, but was stopped quickly by Panpour and Pignite who held him back despite his demands that they release him. Zorua sat off to the side giggling, smiling innocently while his guardian calmed down, allowing Panpour to pat him on the back and Pignite to stand between him and Rex.

"Well, at any rate, it's almost time for pictures!" Rex said cheerily. "You guys just need to wait here, kay? I'll be back in a flash!"

Rex quickly ran to the house and got the only two pokemon who hadn't came out, Lampent and Frillish. Apparently they found entertaining themselves inside to be more preferatable to enduring and braving the cold outside. As Rex walked over with them he was pleased to make announce his faviorite part of that day, "Gather around! It's time for a group picture!"

Doing as they were told the pokemon gathered around Luke and Felicity. Rex set the camera up and put on the timer before he joined them, standing beside his Scolipede with an arm wrapped around his neck and his other hand rested on top of Pignite's head. Sewaddle sat on one shoulder while Joltik sat on the other and Audino stood in front of Rex with Purrloin standing beside her, holding paws with her. Felicity held Zorua and Oshawatt stood at her feet with his shell raised up proudly. Lillipup stood beside him and Leafeon sat beside her so that she was in the middle between him and Oshawatt. Panpour sat on Luke's shoulder, and Frillish put one of his tenticals on top of Luke's head. Lampent floated in the air above Luke and Frillish, meanwhile Eevee was jumping up and down in the air excitedly.

_Flash._

And that was how they were all captured. Happy, loving, and together on a beautiful Christmas day. It was certainly a memorable day for everyone involved, especially the pokemon.

* * *

**Presently...**

Herdier stood in front of the shelf in the living room, which held that photo in a silver frame. Cubchoo and Golett stared at the picture, smiling. Zorua and Dewott stood close by with Panpour and Emboar, who were all also smiling as memories from the previous year passed through their minds and they recalled all that had occured with some fondness.

"So," Herdier said, "to sum up your question, Cubchoo, the meaning of Christmas is simple."

"Or at least it is for us." Dewott said. "To me Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Zorua, here. I'll admit," Dewott said blushing slightly, "he's the best gifts I've ever got."

"Christmas isn't really about gifts, though." Zorua said.

"Right." Emboar agreed. "It's about something more."

"More?" Cubchoo inquired. "What more do you mean?"

"It's about family, friends," Said Panpour gently, "being with loved ones and those you really care for. Christmas is about peace and love towards everyone, but it's also about spending time with those close to you."

"That's right." Herdier said with a chuckle. She looked to Cubchoo and Golett with a soft smile and kind eyes. "Do you understand now?"

Both Cubchoo and Golett nodded satisfied with the story as well as the explanation they'd received. "I think that's very well said." Leavanny said, as she stood in the kitchen doorway smiling. "I believe that all to be very well said. And I-"

"Hey, everyone!" Glaceon called speeding into the room from the front door, "I think you all might wanna come see this! Felicity and Galvantula are hugging each other! It's so funny!"

"Hey," Cubchoo said stopping everyone from leaving, "I think Leavanny might wanna say something."

All eyes then turned to Leavanny who smiled thankfully to Cubchoo.

"As I was saying, I hope that this Christmas is as wonderful and eventful this year as it was last, but not just for us. For everyone."

"That's a very kind sentiment, Leavanny." Emboar said with a chuckle. "You want to come out and be on my team when Liepard and me have us a friendly snowball fight?"

"Yes, I'd like that very much. Thank you."

And so everyone headed outside to enjoy their Christmas day together. Some played games, others sang songs, but whatever they were doing they were all together and having a very merry Christmas indeed.

* * *

**Merry Christmas! And have a happy new year!**

**~Best Wishes, Fairylust~**


End file.
